Joseph Lieberman on Crime

Death penalty for egregious crimes, but applied fairly

Q: Do you support the death penalty?

A: I have long supported the death penalty for the most egregious crimes and terrorists, and I still do. I also believe that the death penalty must be applied fairly.
That means we must ensure that people accused of capital crimes and subject to the death penalty have adequate legal protections, including the right to DNA testing and first-rate legal counsel.

Source: Associated Press policy Q&A, “Death Penalty”
, Jan 25, 2004

Invest in rehabilitation, not prisons

Q: How will you reform the legal system?

LIEBERMAN: I believe that people have to be held accountable for crimes. But justice must be fair. Too many people are in jail today for nonviolent drug offenses.
They are costing our country, their states, their families, their neighborhoods an enormous amount. We need to commit ourselves to turn this around and invest in rehabilitation, invest in some of the causes of crime.

Focus on victim’s rights & on expediting procedures

The liberal, criminal rights-oriented theories I took with me from law school ran smack into the reality of violent crime and street crime in my Hew Haven neighborhood. I knew people who were victims of violent crime and muggings; my house was broken
into twice. Fear of crime was constricting freedom and stifling growth. So I began to propose tougher criminal laws, including the death penalty, and to focus more on victims’ rights and expedited criminal procedures.

Approves $6.2M more for CT crime & drug enforcement

Connecticut has been awarded a $6.3 million law enforcement grant, part of $250 million nationally, to support state and local efforts to target violent and drug-related crime. “To build safer communities, police must have the resources to
identify and catch criminals, and courts must have the resources to build strong cases and put the guilty away,” Lieberman said. “Much of this funding will be used to combat gangs and drugs, which pose perhaps the greatest risks to our youth today.”

Source: Press release, “Combat Crime”
, Apr 26, 2000

Build more jails to keep violent offendors for full sentence

“Many Americans are rightly outraged when the perpetrator of a violent crime receives a steep sentence, only to serve a mere fraction of the time because of overcrowded prisons,” Lieberman said. “[New] federal assistance will help keep the most dangerous
felons out of our communities.” [A new] $4.5 million incarceration grant will be used to construct a new facility for juvenile offenders, and to transform halfway house facilities into institutional confinement for violent offenders.

Source: Press Release, “Violent Offendors”
, Sep 17, 1999

Proposed commission to study sources of youth violence

Lieberman won unanimous approval to create a national commission to conduct a year-long examination of the factors contributing to the outbreak of school shootings and the larger epidemic of youth violence. The commission would study the many possible
causes behind this problem, and recommend a series of tangible steps to prevent more tragedies [like Littleton]. “This is an honest admission that we don’t have all the answers to explain why so many kids are turning into killers,” Lieberman said.

Source: Press Release, “Omnibus juvenile justice bill”
, May 20, 1999

Favors death penalty, even for minors

Lieberman’s voting record on crime-related issues:

Voted IN FAVOR of making it harder to appeal the death penalty in terrorism cases. (S.735, 4/17/1996)

Voted AGAINST enabling prisoners appealing death penalty sentences to argue racial
discrimination using sentencing statistics as part of their appeal. (S.1935, 5/11/1994)

Voted IN FAVOR of the death penalty for crimes committed when an individual is under the age of 18. (S.1607, 11/8/1993)

Source: Vote-smart.org “Voting Record”
, Apr 17, 1996

Mandatory prison for gun use; prevention for juveniles

Lieberman’s voting record on crime-related issues:

Voted YES for mandatory prison terms for the use of a firearm during a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (HR 3355, 5/19/1994)

Voted YES to authorize $1.15 billion per year to
continue the COPS program [funding 100,000 police officers] (S.254, 5/20/1999)

Voted AGAINST increasing funding for law enforcement of juveniles, to be offset by a decrease in juvenile crime prevention programs. (S.2260, 7/22/1998)

Source: Vote-smart.org “Voting Record”
, May 19, 1994

Voted YES on reinstating $1.15 billion funding for the COPS Program.

Amendment would increase funding for the COPS Program to $1.15 billion for FY 2008 to provide state and local law enforcement with critical resources. The funding is offset by an unallocated reduction to non-defense discretionary spending.

Proponents recommend voting YES because:

This amendment reinstates the COPS Program. I remind everyone, when the COPS Program was functioning, violent crime in America reduced 8.5% a year for 7 years in a row. Throughout the 1990s, we funded the COPS Program at roughly $1.2 billion, and it drove down crime. Now crime is rising again. The COPS Program in the crime bill worked, and the Government Accounting Office found a statistical link between the COPS grants and a reduction in crime.
The Brookings Institution reported the COPS Program is one of the most cost-effective programs we have ever had in this country. Local officials urgently need this support.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

The COPS Program has some history. It was started by President Clinton. He asked for 100,000 police officers. He said that when we got to 100,000, the program would stop. We got to 110,000 police officers and the program continues on and on and on.

This program should have ended 5 years ago or 6 years ago, but it continues. It is similar to so many Federal programs that get constituencies that go on well past what their original purpose was. It may be well intentioned, but we cannot afford it and we shouldn't continue it. It was never thought it would be continued this long.

Voted YES on $1.15 billion per year to continue the COPS program.

Vote on an amendment to authorize $1.15 billion per year from 2000 through 2005 to continue and expand the Community Oriented Policing Services program. $600 million of the annual funding is marked for hiring additional officers [up to 50,000]

Voted YES on limiting death penalty appeals.

Vote to table, or kill, a motion to send the bill back to the joint House-Senate conference committee with instructions to delete the provisions in the bill that would make it harder for prisoners given the death penalty in state courts to appeal.

Voted NO on repealing federal speed limits.

Voted YES on mandatory prison terms for crimes involving firearms.

Vote on the motion to instruct conferees on the bill to insist that the conference report include Mandatory prison terms for the use, possession, or carrying of a firearm or destructive device during a state crime of violence or drug trafficking

Voted YES on rejecting racial statistics in death penalty appeals.

Vote to express that the Omnibus Crime bill [H.R. 3355] should reject the Racial Justice Act provisions, which would enable prisoners appealing death penalty sentences to argue racial discrimination using sentencing statistics as part of their appeal.

Moratorium on death penalty; more DNA testing.

Lieberman co-sponsored a bill limiting capital punishment:

H.R. 1038, S.233:

To place a moratorium on executions by the Federal Government and urge the States to do the same, while a National Commission on the Death Penalty reviews the fairness of the imposition of the death penalty .

S.486 & H.R.912:

To reduce the risk that innocent persons may be executed [by examining DNA evidence more thoroughly].

More funding and stricter sentencing for hate crimes.

Lieberman co-sponsored the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act:

Title: To provide Federal assistance to States and local jurisdictions to prosecute hate crimes.

Summary: Provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or other assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any violent crime that is motivated by prejudice based on the race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim or is a violation of hate crime laws.

Award grants to assist State and local law enforcement officials with extraordinary expenses for interstate hate crimes.

Award grants to State and local programs designed to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles.

Increase funding for "COPS ON THE BEAT" program.

Lieberman co-sponsored increasing funding for "COPS ON THE BEAT" program

COPS Improvements Act of 2007 - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to make grants for public safety and community policing programs (COPS ON THE BEAT or COPS program). Revises grant purposes to provide for:

the hiring or training of law enforcement officers for intelligence, antiterror, and homeland security duties;

the hiring of school resource officers;

school-based partnerships between local law enforcement agencies and local school systems to combat crime, gangs, drug activities, and other problems facing elementary and secondary schools;

Reduce recidivism by giving offenders a Second Chance.

Lieberman co-sponsored reducing recidivism by giving offenders a Second Chance

Recidivism Reduction and Second Chance Act of 2007

Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to expand provisions for adult and juvenile offender state and local reentry demonstration projects to provide expanded services to offenders and their families for reentry into society.

Directs the Attorney General to award grants for:

state and local reentry courts;

Comprehensive and Continuous Offender Reentry Task Forces;

pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders;

technology career training for offenders;

mentoring services for reintegrating offenders into the community;

pharmacological drug treatment services to incarcerated offenders;

prison-based family treatment programs for incarcerated parents of minor children; and

a study of parole or post-incarceration supervision violations and revocations.

Life imprisonment for repeat sexual predators.

Lieberman co-sponsored restricting parole for repeat sexual predators

Expresses the sense of the Congress that States should:

more seriously consider the relatively high recidivism rate of sexual offenders when deciding whether to plea bargain with first-time sexual offenders and whether to grant parole to sexual offenders; and

review their treatment and parole supervision programs for sexual offenders to assure that such programs are fulfilling their goals.

Whoever violates provisions regarding aggravated sexual abuse after previously having been convicted of another State or Federal sexual abuse offense shall be imprisoned for life.

Establish guidelines for State programs requiring any person who is convicted of a sex offense to register and keep up to date a current address with a designated State law enforcement agency for ten years after being released from prison

Maintain on-line availability of information obtained under this Act

Carry out a study of persistent sexual predators and to report to the Congress and the President.